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muster

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Muster

English

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WOTD – 19 October 2008
EnglishWikipediahas an article on:
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EnglishWikipediahas an article on:
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Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Englishmusteren,borrowed fromAnglo-Normanmostrer,Middle Frenchmonstrer,moustrer(whence the nounmonstre,which gave the English noun), fromLatinmōnstrō(“to show”),frommoneō(“to admonish”).Cognate withFrenchmontrer(“to show”),Italianmostrare(“to show”),Spanishmostrar(“to show”).See alsomonster.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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muster(pluralmusters)

  1. Agathering.
    1. Anassemblageor display; agathering,collectionof people or things.[from 14th c.]
      • 1743,Richard Steele, Joseph Addison,TheLucubrationsof Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.:
        She seems to hear the Repetition of his Mens Names with Admiration; and waits only to answer him with as false aMusterof Lovers.
      • 1849–1861,Thomas Babington Macaulay,chapter 11, inThe History of England from the Accession of James the Second,volume(please specify |volume=I to V),London:Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans,→OCLC:
        Of the temporal grandees of the realm, and of their wives and daughters, themusterwas great and splendid.
      • 1920,Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics,Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia,Issue 13,
        The figures from 1788 to 1825 inclusive, as already mentioned, are based on themusterstaken in those years; those for subsequent years are based upon estimates made on the basis of Census results and the annual[…].
    2. (military)An assembling or review of troops, as for parade, verification of numbers, inspection, exercise, or introduction into service.[from 15th c.]
      • c.1597(date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth,[…]”,inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard,andEd[ward]Blount,published1623,→OCLC,(please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
        Come, let vs take amusterspeedily: / Doomesday is neere; dye all, dye merrily.
      • 1663July 14 (date written; Gregorian calendar),Samuel Pepys,Mynors Bright,transcriber, “July 4th, 1663”,inHenry B[enjamin] Wheatley,editor,The Diary of Samuel Pepys[…],volume(please specify |volume=I to X),London:George Bell & Sons[…];Cambridge:Deighton Bell & Co.,published1893–1899,→OCLC:
        And after long being there, I 'light, and walked to the place where the King, Duke &c., did stand to see the horse and foot march by and discharge their guns, to show a French Marquisse (for whom thismusterwas caused) the goodness of our firemen[…]
      • 2010,Ohtar, "Enthroned", Slechtvalk,A Forlorn Throne.
        To shorten his way and to hasten for themusterhe takes a long lost road.
    3. The sum total of an army when assembled for review and inspection; the whole number of effective men in an army.
      • 1594–1597,Richard Hooker,edited byJ[ohn] S[penser],Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie,[…],London:[…]Will[iam]Stansby[for Matthew Lownes],published1611,→OCLC,(please specify the page):
        Ye publish themustersof your own bands, and proclaim them to amount of thousands.
    4. (Australia,New Zealand)Aroundupoflivestockfor inspection, branding, drenching, shearing etc.[from 19th c.]
      • 2006,John Gilfoyle,Bloody Jackaroos!,Boolarong Press:
        McGuire took the two of them out to Kidman's Bore on the Sylvester River where about two dozen stockmen from different stations had gathered to tend themusteralong the edge of the Simpson Desert.
  2. Showing.
    1. (obsolete)Something shown forimitation;apattern.[15th–19th c.]
      (Can wefind and adda quotation of Ives to this entry?)
      He (the tailor) never measures you; he only asks master formuster,as he terms it, that is for a pattern.
    2. (obsolete)Asampleofgoods.
      • 1770,Alexander Dalrymple,An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean,page48:
        The beasts they saw here were hogs and little dogs, and they found some hens; here also they found amusterof cloves, ginger, and cinnamon; though the cinnamon was not of the best:[…]
      • 1868,Reports of Cases Determined in the Court of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut,page114:
        A letter from Mr. Downie, dated 14th of January 1807, acknowledging the receipt of one from the plaintiff, transmittingmustersof silk, and authorizing the plaintiff, on certain conditions, to proceed in his speculation[…]
    3. (obsolete)An act of showing something; adisplay.[15th–17th c.]
      • 1590,Sir Philip Sidney,Arcadia,Book III:
        Thus all things being condignely ordered, will an ill favoured impatiencie he waited, until the next morning he might make amusterof him selfe in the Iland[…]
      • 1647,Beaumont and Fletcher,The Queen of Corinth,act 2:
        And when you find your women's favour fail, / 'Tis ten to one you'll know yourself, and seek me, / Upon a bettermusterof your manners.
    4. A collection ofpeafowl.(not a term used in zoology)
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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muster(third-person singular simple presentmusters,present participlemustering,simple past and past participlemustered)

  1. (transitive,obsolete)Toshow,exhibit.[15th–17th c.]
  2. (intransitive)To be gathered together for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like (especially of a military force); to come together as parts of a force or body.[from 15th c.]
    • 1859,Charles Dickens,The Haunted House:
      We were then in the third week of November; but, we took our measures so vigorously, and were so well seconded by the friends in whom we confided, that there was still a week of the month unexpired, when our party all came down together merrily, andmusteredin the haunted house.
    • 1900,James George Frazer,The Golden Bough,volume 3, page268:
      The whole male population, men and boys,musteredon the top of the hill.
  3. (transitive)Tocollect,call orassembletogether, such as troops or a group for inspection, orders, display etc.[from 15th c.]
    • 12 July 2012,Sam Adams, AV ClubIce Age: Continental Drift
      With the help of some low-end boosting, Dinklagemustersa decent amount of kid-appropriate menace—although he never does explain his gift for finding chunks of ice shaped like pirate ships—but Romano and Leary mainly sound bored, droning through their lines as if they’re simultaneously texting the contractors building the additions on their houses funded by their fat sequel paychecks.
  4. (transitive,US)Toenroll(into service).[from 19th c.]
  5. (transitive,Australia,New Zealand)To gather orround uplivestock.
Synonyms
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  • (gather, unite):rally
  • (gather troops for review):parade
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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Noun

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muster(pluralmusters)

  1. Synonym ofmustee
    • 1825,The Gentleman's Magazine,page 4:
      The next, the Quadroon, from the white and mulatto woman. The third descent, from a white and quadroon, is called a muster; from the fourth, between a white and amuster,springs themusteephinasand the fifth descent, viz. from a white and musteephina, iswhitebylaw,and of free birth; indeed the two latter classes are as white as a European.
    • 1925,Charles Spurgeon Johnson, Elmer Anderson Carter,Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life,page291:
      Mixed bloods, they are suspended between two races, — mulattoes, quadroons,musters,mustafinas, cabres, griffies, zambis, quatravis, tresalvis, coyotes, saltatras, albarassados, cambusos, — neither white nor black, but Negroes.

References

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Anagrams

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German

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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muster

  1. singularimperativeofmustern

Silesian

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Etymology

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BorrowedfromGermanMuster.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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musterminan

  1. design,pattern

Further reading

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